19--Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.33

Prabhupada:

[Thus the Lord accepted the sannyasa
order of life after full consideration.]

So Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted the sannyasa order of life with a view for preaching. Otherwise, He was a learned scholar, born in very highly respectable brahmana family. His family life was very happy because He was a great scholar. It was the system that a brahmana is supposed to be teacher. Pathana, pathana, yajana, yajana, dana, pratigraha. This is brahmana's occupation. Everyone has got some means of livelihood. Not like that at the present moment, whatever you like, you can do, or whatever profession you get, that's all right. But Vedic system is guna-karma-vibhagasaḥ [Bg 4.13].

Guna, the quality, and according to that quality, work. Not that everyone… Just like at the present moment in your country the government is finding difficulty to recruit soldiers. They are calling anyone, that go, but these poor people, they do not know that they're calling some sūdras. Sūdra cannot be defeating for fighting, neither the brahmana. There must be ksatriya.

In India still, because the caste system is still maintained somehow or other-it is already lost, but still the fragmental portion is still there-you will find this distinction, brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sūdra, simply remaining, and therefore the government has no problem for recruiting military soldiers. There is a ksatriya class still. They will be very glad to become military men; they take pleasure in fighting. They take pleasure, even at the time of death, at risk of death. I've seen one picture, one Sikh soldier fighting in the last…, First World War, in France. Because the Britishers were training all Indian soldiers to fight; they had no soldiers. All their expansion of empire was due to Indian soldiers. Therefore when they gave up governing India, they gave up governing all the eastern countries, because they could not maintain. There was no possibility of taking British soldiers. If you want to rule, there must be soldiers. So they were expanding the British Empire on account of this Indian soldiers. India, Burma, Ceylon, Mesopotamia, and Balochistan, and so many surrounding India, they conquered with Indian soldiers. Even Africa, Boer wars. Because still, in India, there is a class, brahmana, ksatriya, vaisyas, and you cannot compete with them in life. The vaisya class, still they are so expert in business, and one time you will see he will be the master of millions. He knows how to do business. Others who do not know the business, you may give him millions of dollars, he will simply make a loss. That is all.

So everything has got training. Therefore scientific division of human society should be as it is prescribed in the Bhagavad-gita and all Vedic literature:

Krsna says, God says, that "I have created four divisions of the social order according to quality and work." Everyone cannot work for everything, but everyone can be trained up. Trained up, just like we are training you. This Krsna consciousness movement is training everyone to become a perfect brahmana, Vaisnava. Never mind where he is born; that doesn't matter. Just like a medical man's son can be trained to become an engineer. That is not difficult. The training must be there. It is a question of training. According to Vedic civilization, these Europeans, Americans and others, they are called mlecchas and yavanas. But it is not that mlecchas and yavanas cannot become brahmanas. They can become, or the brahmanas can go down to become mlecchas and yavanas. It is simply on the quality. These are the qualities.

Therefore our students are following four principles, not to be contaminated by sinful activities: no meat-eating, no illicit sex, no gambling, no intoxication. These are the four pillars of sinful life. So because they are giving it up, therefore they are becoming eligible to become brahmanas and Vaisnavas. The contamination is there, but if one gives up the contamination, then he becomes qualified. Just like if one is infected with some disease, there is counteracting medicine, injection. You give him, he becomes pure. So there is no stereotype caste system. Krsna says, guna-karma-vibhagasaḥ [Bg 4.13]: according to quality and according to work. So if you change your quality, if you change the modes of your work, then you come to that position. So we are recruiting by changing their qualities and by engaging them into that particular work.

So the brahmana's work is, occupation, that he must be qualified, guna. What is that? Satya, samo, damas, titiksa, arjavam,

These are described in the Bhagavad-gita. You are reading. These are the brahminical qualities. Truthful: a brahmana will never talk lies. Truthful, the ultimate param satyam dhimahi. Just like Bhagavata says, Vyasadeva, in offering his obeisances in the beginning. He says,

Dhimahi, you, those who are twice initiated, you know this word, dhimahi. This is found in Gayatri. Om bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi. So this dhimahi is Gayatri mantra. This is chanted by brahmanas, Gayatri mantra. The twice-born, the brahmana, ksatriya and the vaisya, they are called twice-born. Vaisyas are not actually; mixed. There are three qualities: goodness, passion, ignorance. So goodness is brahminical quality. Passion is ksatriya quality. And ignorance is sūdra quality. And mixed up is called vaisya quality. Everything, any color, just like three colors. Pure color is red, yellow and blue. These are three pure colors. Now we can mix up, those who are artists, painters, they know to mix up these colors. A hundred multicolors you can prepare. Similarly, you find so many different types of population, in different countries, in different societies, simply due to this color or qualities.

So the quality can be changed, just like there is white and blue color, so you can cover it by red color. There is red color, you can cover it by black color. Similarly, it doesn't matter for…, where one is born. It doesn't matter. Krsna does not say janma. He does not take this word janma. He says guna, karma. Quality can be changed, and his work can be changed. That is propaganda. Our Krsna consciousness movement means we are trying to change these qualities and work. That is policy. That is actually happening. Now you European and American boys and..., because your quality is being changed, your work is being changed, you're coming to the platform of brahmana, Vaisnava. Therefore we wait to see how a student is working. Therefore after some time, we offer the sacred thread, and those who have been offered sacred thread, they must be responsible to their position. You have been recognized as a qualified brahmana.

Now if you don't be, or act, like a brahmana, then you will be false. And in India it has become. One is actually not qualified brahmana, but he is speaking that "I am brahmana." That is the symptom of Kali-yuga. Simply by taking a two-cent-worth thread, one will say, "I am brahmana." No. That is not the purpose. The brahmana must be truthful, satya. He must be controlling the mind, controlling the senses, samo damas. Titiksa: he must be tolerant. arjavam: simple, not duplicity and talking something in mouth and in mind, and heart there is something else. These are practical terms, satya samo damas titiksaarjavam. Jnanam: he must have full knowledge. Not a rascal, fool, is a brahmana. What is full knowledge? Full knowledge, that "I am not this body." You must be convinced. You must thoroughly know that you are not this body; you are pure soul, aham brahmasmi. One who knows aham brahmasmi, brahma, he is called brahmana.

So these are the things there are, but by the grace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu things have become very easy. All these purificatory… There is, in India there is smarta-brahmana. They say that unless one is born in the brahmana family, he cannot be claimed as a brahmana. But that is not the verdict of the sastra. There are many instances, those who are qualified in brahminical quality, they are brahmana. In the Upanisads there is Satyakama Jabala Upanisad. So this Satyakama went to a great sage, Gautama Rsi, and he requested him to accept him as his disciple, initiated. So Gautama Rsi asked him, "Are you brahmana?" Because according to the brahmana, according to the Vedic system, nobody can be initiated unless he is a brahmana. And a brahmana means brahmana, ksatriya and vaisya, especially brahmana, they must have garbhadhana-samskara. The Vedic system is very complicated. Garbhadhana-samskara. There are ten kinds of reformatory methods. One can be changed from one quality to another, but there is difficult methods and processes.

So a pure brahmana means he must have garbhadhana-samskara. Garbhadhana-samskara means there is a ceremony when the father goes to beget child. Before sex life there must be a ceremony. It is no secret thing. There must be a very sanctified spiritual ceremony, so that the both the male and female should be spiritually inclined, and in that mentality, that situation, if there is sex life, the child will be born very nice. That is called garbhadhana-samskara. Because the body is formed according to the mentality of the male and female. The mind of the child will be formed. Just like if the father is white, the child is white, the mother is white. Similarly, if the color is in place, everything is there if you... So the system to create a brahmana, it is from the very beginning of the..., giving birth. It is not so easy thing. Therefore at the present moment no one is observing the ceremony. Therefore the sastra says nobody is brahmana. Kalau sūdra-sambhava: "In this age, Kali-yuga, everyone is a sūdra." Not only outside India but in India also. Because this garbhadhana-samskara is not observed. Children are getting birth like cats and dogs. So where is the brahmana? No, that cannot be.

Therefore one cannot be converted into brahmana according to Vedic system in this age. But there is pancaratrika system for this age given by Narada Muni. In the pancaratrika system the…, if the spiritual master finds somebody that he has a tendency for understanding the Supreme Truth, he should be trained up. He should be trained up by process. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu has made this training very easy by chanting Hare Krsna mantra. Ceto-darpana-marjanam [Cc Antya 20.12], He has given. This is authorized movement. Anyone will chant regularly, he's the winner, and his heart will be cleansed, and he will gradually understand that he is not this body, he is spirit soul, and that is the basic principle of becoming a brahmana.

So the brahmana's duty is… We are talking of Caitanya Mahaprabhu as well. The brahmana's duty is to read all the Vedic literature from bona fide spiritual master, pathana. This is called pathana. And then pathana. Pathana. First of all you must be well versed; then you can teach others. Pathana, pathana, yajana, yajana. Yajana means worshiping the Lord, and yajana means teaching others how to worship the Lord. Yajana, yajana, dana pratigraha. A brahmana can collect money from others and spend it for Krsna consciousness movement. Dana pratigraha. Dana means "charity." Not that "I have collected now so much money in the name of Krsna consciousness movement, now let me make some bank balance." No, that is not dana. He must be… He can take money from others, but he must immediately spend for Krsna. These are the six professional duties of a brahmana. This is the brahmana's duty. This is karma, work. And guna, I have already explained. Truthfulness, satyam. Samo damas titiksa arjavam,

Similarly, these are nine qualities-some say twelve qualities. So anyway, there are nine qualities, and similarly ksatriyas have seven qualities. Out of the seven qualities, they must have a mentality of ruling over others. They must have a mentality for giving in charity. That is the business of ksatriyas, big, big kings. In India all big, big temples, they're given by big, big ksatriya kings. Those who have gone to Vrndavana, they have seen many big, big temples, and still there is Govindajis old temple. Very fine artistic work on stone. It cannot manufacture at the present moment, even if you spend billions of dollars. It is so nice temple. Not very long ago, about five hundred years ago, Maharaja Mansihgh, the commander-in-chief of Emperor Akbar, he came to Rūpa Gosvami, "Sir, can I serve you in any way?" This is ksatriya's duty, to go to the brahmana and Vaisnava and offer his service. This is ksatriya. The ksatriya king approached Rūpa Gosvami. Rūpa Gosvami saw that this man is very rich man, so he said, "All right, you can construct a temple for Govindaji." So that temple was constructed at that time by spending crores of rupees. When you go to India you will see this temple, how much fine work is there. The Muhammadans, they attacked this temple and broke it. It is now… It was seven stories. Out of that, only three stories is still remaining, and four stories are broken by the Muhammadans.

So this is a duty of the ksatriya: they rule over. Their business is to collect tax, and a brahmana's business is to take charity. But the brahmana spends for Krsna, and the ksatriya spends for Krsna. The karma is one: for serving Krsna. That is caste system. Just like we have got four divisions in our own body: the division of the face, the division of this arms, the division of this belly, and the division of the legs. So brahmana is the division, social division, of the face. They must be intelligent, because from the brain the intelligence is there. Ksatriya gives you protection. As soon as somebody coming to attack him, fight, I spread my hands, arms. Ksatriya's business is to give protection: the military, the king, the law. To give protection from rogues, from thieves, from attack, from enemies. The king is responsible for giving protection. The vaisya means this belly-for economic, how to secure food. Therefore vaisya's business is krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam [Bg 18.44].

Krsi, krsi means agriculture. Unless you produce foodstuff, how the people will live? So that is business of the vaisya. There is no prescription for killing, slaughterhouses. No. Krsi. Krsi means producing food grains by tilling the ground, the fields. Immense production you can make, especially in America. So much land is lying vacant. In Africa also I have seen so much land is vacant. If they are utilized for producing grains-ten times what you need. The whole population of the world can be given ten times more than what they need.

But the rascals, they do not know. They are killing animals and eating. This is animal civilization, tiger civilization. It is confirmed. So what is the use of becoming tiger? Has tiger any use? Has tiger any brain to understand Krsna consciousness? He may be expert in killing other animals, but has he got the brain to understand? If you become tiger… You can become tiger, but what is the use of this tiger? Tiger is meant for shooting immediately, and killing. That is being done. They are killing one another, because it is a tiger civilization. Everyone is becoming tiger, cats and dogs. But what will they do? They will fight and kill one another, that's all. Where is the brain to understand the responsibility of human life? That is entrusted to the brahmana. Therefore we're creating some brain to understand what is meant for the human form of life. People should to understand. So the brahmana, ksatriya and vaisya, what is their duty? And how economic problems can be solved? You produce grains, you produce milk, go-raksya, krsi-go-raksya. Unless you give protection to the cow, how you can get immense milk? If you get immense milk, they are all full of vitamins, A, B, C, D, all. It is scientifically accepted, milk has got the vitamin A, B, C, D-everything, especially A and D. So you produce enough milk, and you produce enough grains, enough vegetables, there is no question of scarcity.

So it is a most scientific movement, this Krsna consciousness movement. Krsna consciousness movement means the things which are happening, instructed in the Bhagavad-gita. These are the instructions of Krsna, that vaisya means krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam. You produce grains, food grains; you give protection to the cows, and immense milk; and from milk you make so many vitaminous foodstuffs-sandesa, rasagulla, rabri, dahi, so many things. They do not know. The milk is nothing but the blood of the cow, but the Vedic civilization gets the blood in a very...

[break]

From the childhood His name is butter thief. So Krsna is teaching us from the very childhood, Krsna consciousness, that these things are required. You eat butter. Instead of killing cows, you take the milk, make butter and eat it. You will be completely healthy. Butter and milk, yogurt, they are miracles. And milk is so nice preparation, so nice things that it is never lost. If you have enough milk, suppose you cannot consume, then you can turn into butter, and from butter you get ghee, and ghee you can keep for years. If the milk is decomposed, then you get curd, casein. From casein you make rasagulla, you make sandesa. So the buttermilk, chahch; you eat instead of drinking water. So any way, milk is never lost. Anything you eat, milk preparation, you become strong, stout and good brain. This is the duty of the mercantile class.

But they are not giving protection to the cows; they are giving protection to the steel factories. So when there is a need of a brain, they will create eating steel-steel brain. You see this rascal civilization? There is no protection for cows; there is protection for the dogs, which is useless. [laughter] Simply creating disturbances, innocent persons they will attack: wrow! wrow! wrow! No quarrel, but they will do it. It is very difficult to walk in your country. You see. So many disturbances from the dogs.

So this Krsna conscious movement, because they are serious students, I am speaking so many things. It is complete reformation of this rascal civilization. This is not human civilization. Human civilization means athato brahma-jijnasa. Vedanta. Veda means "knowledge," ultimate knowledge; anta means "ultimate." Vedanta, what is that Vedanta? Knowledge. This knowledge how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sexual intercourse and how to defend-this is animal knowledge. The animal knows also how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sexual life and how to defend. So you, suppose you have discovered atomic bomb for defending your country. That does not mean that you have advanced in civilization. That is defense. So defense, animal also knows how to defend. So you must go above, above these four principles; then you are more than animal. Otherwise you are animal. If you are simply encumbered with these four principles of life-eating, sleeping, mating and defending-then you are no more than animal. It may be fashionable, it may be polished, but it is animal civilization. If you go above, which the animal cannot… The animal cannot know what is Krsna. That is not possible. I cannot invite the dogs and cats and sit down peacefully here to hear me. No, that is not possible. Therefore the special prerogative of the human being is Vedanta. Veda means "knowledge." This knowledge is not for animals. Ultimate knowledge. Ultimate knowledge is brahma-jijnasa, jivasya tattva-jijnasa: to understand what I am, what is this world, what is God, what is my relationship with Him, how shall I act, wherefrom I have come, where I have to go. [SB 1.2.10] So many questions. These questions should be solved. That is human life. That is brahmana's business.

So it is a great science. Krsna consciousness movement is not sentiment; it is a great science. Unfortunately, those who are so-called scientists, philosophers, they are thinking that it is a movement for Hitler or a man like that. They have no intelligence. Let them come and understand what is this movement. But if they are not coming, you become trained up nicely and go to these foolish men and teach them what is the civilisation.

Thank you very much. [devotees offer obeisances]

Any questions? Chant Hare Krsna.

[36:31]

[kirtana]

[prema-dhvani]

All glories to the assembled devotees. All glories to the assembled devotees. All glories to the assembled devotees.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

[end]